"When a traveller in north central Massachusetts takes the wrong fork at the junction of the Aylesbury Pike just beyond Dean’s Corners he comes upon a lonely and curious country."
- The Dunwich Horror
This issue of the Arkham Gazette was developed as a 'proof' of concept' test to see if the idea for a magazine focused on the Lovecraft Country setting for The... [click here for more]

Episode 66 – The Good Friends horrify themselves
We’re back, and we’re mulling over a topic suggested to us by good friend of the Good Friends, Tore Nielsen: what is the appeal of horror? Our discussion veers all over the place, like a teenage camper trying to escape an axe-wielding maniac. We take in films, television, books and games in our attempt to try to work out what appeals... [click here for more]

Episode 45 – The Good Friends indulge in some mockery
It’s been far too long since we’ve talked about horror films, so this episode we’re looking at three horror mockumentaries. What do we mean when we say “mockumentary”, beyond indulging our almost fetishistic love of portmanteau words? Each of these films purports to be a documentary, or at least... [click here for more]

Episode 46 – The Good Friends get playful
We’re back, and we’re nicking stuff again. Following on from episode 42’s discussion of neat GM techniques we’ve stolen, this time we’re thieving from players. There are plenty of discussions about how to be a good GM out there in the Internet, but much fewer about player techniques. Also, there are far... [click here for more]

Episode 59 – Secrets and Conflict at the Gaming Table
We’re back, and we’re watching each other from the corners of our eyes. Paul is hiding something behind his back, Matt keeps glancing at the door, and I’m trying to look nonchalant. It’s only a matter of time until one of us tips his hand. All of this is a needlessly wordy way of saying that we’re talking about... [click here for more]

Episode 60 – The Good Friends return to R’lyeh Roulette
We’re back, and we’re plunging once more into the abyss of despair and madness that is R’lyeh Roulette. In case you didn’t listen to our first round, back in episode 37, this is where we let the dice select random entries from Matt’s sanity-blasting spreadsheet of every spell from official Chaosium Call... [click here for more]

Episode 62 – Top 3 Call of Cthulhu Monsters
We’re back and we’re looking at monsters, hoping against hope that they don’t look back at us! In particular, we’re talking about our favourite monsters from Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu. There’s one entry on our list that was created especially for the game, and another that has rarely seen use at the gaming table. No... [click here for more]

Island of Ignorance: The Third Cthulhu Companion is a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook and scenario collection published by Golden Goblin Press (in print and PDF). Cthulhu Reborn, in conjunction with Golden Goblin, are pleased to release this deluxe edition of the props/handouts that pertain to the five scenarios found in Island of Ignorance.
◊
Handouts... [click here for more]

Episode 44 – The Good Friends take up arms (and pseudopods)
We’re back, and we’re talking about Cubicle 7‘s Call of Cthulhu setting, World War Cthulhu. We’ve had a few people ask us at conventions what exactly World War Cthulhu is and what makes it different from other Cthulhuesque games, which made us think that this may be a good topic for an episode. The fact... [click here for more]

Episode 57 – The Good Friends take a little more time
We’re back from the distant past! Our minds have escaped the sinister and rugose clutches of the Great Race, and we have returned to the present to wrap up our discussion of Lovecraft’s classic story, The Shadow Out of Time. In this episode we give our own personal impressions of the story, take a look at adaptations... [click here for more]

Episode 58 – Call of Cthulhu in Other Time Periods
Our minds may have escaped the clutches of the Great Race, but their interest in other ages has clearly rubbed off on us. We have also grown new protuberances, capable of fine manipulation, from atop our heads, but that’s a topic for another time. Instead we use Chaosium’s recent publication Cthulhu Through the Ages as the... [click here for more]

Episode 61 – The Ninth Gate and Maléfique
We’re back, and we’re watching horror films about books. We don’t mean films based on books (although one is, just to confuse things), but films where a book plays a central role. In fact, you could argue that the books in question are characters and not mere plot devices. Wooden performances are easier to forgive when you’re... [click here for more]

Episode 63 – The Good Friends go old school with Lamentations of the Flame Princess
We’re back, and we’re looking at the Old School Renaissance and, more specifically, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. In case you aren’t familiar with the OSR, it’s a broad movement that embraces the simplicity and immediacy of early incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons, reinventing... [click here for more]

Episode 64 – The Good Friends talk to James Raggi, creator of Lamentations of the Flame Princess
We’re back, and we’re continuing last episode‘s coverage of Lamentations of the Flame Princess with an interview with James Edward Raggi IV, the man behind the horrors. This was originally meant as a brief insert for the last episode, but we finally seem to have found someone who... [click here for more]

Episode 67 – The Good Friends find god(s)
We’re back, and we’re doing another top three countdown. This is a spiritual follow-up to episode 62’s look at our favourite Lovecraftian monsters, only this time we’ve set our sights a bit higher. We each champion our three favourite Mythos deities, giving some background on each, followed by some unusual ways to use them in... [click here for more]

Episode 68 – The Good Friends go Barker mad
We’re back, and we’re looking at the two Clive Barker feature films that aren’t Hellraiser. We have nothing against Pinhead and his cruel crew of sadomasochistic sybarites (just trying to say that is a torture that would no doubt arouse them), but Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions deserve some unwholesome... [click here for more]

Episode 69 – The Good Friends reveal their true colours
This time it’s the turn of The Colour Out of Space, an unsettling tale that Lovecraft considered the closest he came to capturing the essence of cosmic horror. It revolves around an alien entity that crashes in from deep space to suck the life out of an unsuspecting community, leaving the residents as shambling, empty husks.... [click here for more]

Episode 70 – The Good Friends reveal more of their true colours
We’re back, and we’re wrapping up our discussion of H P Lovecraft’s eerie mix of the Gothic and the cosmic, The Colour Out of Space. This time we’re looking at various adaptations, as well as deciding what we would steal for our games (the answer is almost everything — we’re shameless).... [click here for more]

Episode 71 – The Good Friends bemoan the modern world
We’re back, and we’re chasing you young whipper-snappers off our lawns. Things just ain’t what they used to be, with all these mobile telephonic doodads skulking in people’s pockets, cheap flights to all corners of the world, and eldritch secrets only a mouse click away. How is a Keeper supposed to make players feel... [click here for more]

Episode 72 – The Good Friends hand out some props
We discuss the different functions of handouts and props, including building atmosphere, providing at-table references and hiding information in plain sight. To avoid being too abstract, we flesh these out with examples of handouts and props that have impressed us, and things we have made with our very own appendages. Matt gives us a few tips... [click here for more]

Episode 73 – What's New in Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
We’re back, and we’re taking a whistle-stop tour through what’s new in Call of Cthulhu7th edition. While we’ve done episodes on some of the new mechanics before, and Paul has recorded a series of videos summarising the 7th edition quick-start rules, we realised that we’d never actually given an overview... [click here for more]

Episode 74 – The Good Friends lose themselves in INLAND EMPIRE
We’re back, and we’re taking a look at David Lynch‘s 2006 film, INLAND EMPIRE. This is a strange, strange film, even by Lynch’s standards, and unravelling it almost proved too much for the three of us. Happily we were able to draft in some extra help, in the eldritch form of Call of Cthulhu line editor... [click here for more]

Episode 75 – The Good Friends sing along to The Music of Erich Zann
We’re back, and we’re talking about everyone’s favourite eldritch curtain-twitcher, Erich Zann. Lovecraft’s short story, The Music of Erich Zann, is a highpoint of his early career. More importantly, it is a rare example of a work that all three of us agree about. The sanity-blasting revelations... [click here for more]

Episode 76 – Styles of Play in Call of Cthulhu
We’re back and we’re looking at all the different ways in which people use Call of Cthulhu at the gaming table. Conveniently enough, we have Call of Cthulhu line developer Mike Mason on hand to help us with this. Between the four of us, we probably have over 100 years of Call of Cthulhu experience, so we’ve... [click here for more]

Episode 77 – The Good Friends dice with death
This episode is our discussion of death in games. Well, specifically it’s a look at the different ways we can handle the deaths of player characters, the approaches to death taken by various RPGs, character deaths we’ve found particularly memorable and suggestions for ways you can make death meaningful and interesting. So, a real bundle... [click here for more]

Episode 47 – The Good Friends take a peek behind the mask
Masks of Nyarlathotep is rightly revered as not only a classic Call of Cthulhu supplement but one of the best campaigns for any system. Despite having been published over 30 years ago, it remains fresh and popular today, with many groups who weren’t even born when it first came out coming afresh to the aid of Jackson... [click here for more]

Episode 114: The Good Friends resolve their social conflicts
We’re back and we’re intimidating goons, charming cult leaders and fast-talking the slow-witted. This is our look at the use of social conflicts in RPGs. By this, we don’t mean arguments over whose turn it was to bring the snacks or whether that roll of 00 was really cocked. Instead, we’re talking about the use of... [click here for more]

Episode 123: The Good Friends rekindle their love for The Wicker Man
We’re back and we’re erecting monstrous effigies, playing deadly games and proclaiming that Sumer is Icumen In. OK, it’s February, but we’re sure that summer is out there somewhere. In fact, as we mention, the cast and crew of The Wicker Man had to pretend that a Scottish November offered the warmth of late... [click here for more]

Episode 125 – The Good Friends open the way to Yog-Sothoth
We’re back, standing atop Sentinel Hill, chill wind whipping under our robes, shrieking until our lungs hurt. Damn, that wind’s cold! This is our discussion of Yog-Sothoth, the All-in-One, the Gate, the Key, the Lurker at the Threshold and any number of other names. You can tell Yog-Sothoth is an important deity:... [click here for more]

Episode 127 – The Good Friends have a laugh over comedy in RPGs
We’re back and we’re splitting our sides, busting a gut and otherwise rupturing ourselves in the pursuit of comedy. It’s rare to find a gaming table where no one is laughing, even if the subject of the game is grim or horrible. Whether we like it or not, humour is a big part of RPGs. We may play Call of... [click here for more]

Episode 48 – The Good Friends get ready for prime time
We’re back and we’re looking at Primetime Adventures, a roleplaying game that uses the techniques of serial television in imaginative ways. This may seem like an unusual topic for us to cover, given our focus on horror gaming, but that’s only because it is. In our defence, we talk about some horror-themed and Lovecraftian... [click here for more]

Episode 49 – The Good Friends visit The Hospice
The story we’re discussing is The Hospice, by Robert Aickman. In case you are unfamiliar with him, Aickman was a twentieth-century English writer of what he referred to as “strange stories”. His work is characterised by maddeningly dreamlike events, the meanings of which slip through your brain like greased eels, all... [click here for more]

Episode 50 – The Good Friends investigate how Cthulhu took over the world
Over the years, we’ve met a lot of people who only know of the Cthulhu Mythos through gaming. Given how pervasively Cthulhu’s tentacles have worked their way into the gaming world, and into geek culture in general, almost everyone interested in such things has heard of Lovecraft, or at least his most famous... [click here for more]

Episode 51 – The Good Friends are repulsed
This episode sees us discussing two thematically similar but rather different films. Each is a story about a woman dealing with unresolved trauma that manifests in horrific ways. Of course, this means that both the films and discussion go into some pretty dark places. This is offset by some spirited bickering, as we had some of our strongest disagreements... [click here for more]

Episode 52 – The Good Friends make their Library Use rolls
We’re back, and we’re doing our homework. In particular we’re looking at what kinds of research can help GMs and players give their games depth, possible sources of information and how not to lose your mind during the process. OK, we may not be the best people to help with that last item.
We’re joined for part... [click here for more]

Episode 53 – The Good Friends mess with the Mythos
This episode we’re speaking about the unspeakable, mentioning the unmentionable and naming the nameless. More particularly, we’re talking about a recently published book that we co-wrote, Nameless Horrors, using this as a starting point for a discussion about the merits and techniques of creating your own unique take on... [click here for more]

Episode 54 – The Good Friends delve into the Unknown
This episode we’re taking a look at Unknown Armies, a roleplaying game that’s not strictly horror, but is close enough that we feel little remorse for talking about it. We also have too many hardened notches to feel remorse in general. We’ve done bad things. One of these bad things is discussing many GM-only parts... [click here for more]

Episode 55 – The Good Friends re-animate their love of Stuart Gordon
We’re back, and we’re looking at a couple of old favourites: Re-Animator and From Beyond. While these films have been around for almost as long as Matt, we would still be remiss if we didn’t warn you that we spoil them quite comprehensively. As we are gentlemen, or at least wear their skins in a convincing... [click here for more]

Episode 56 – The Good Friends take a little time
We’re back — back about 250 million years in the past, to be precise! At least this gives us a chance to take an extended look at Lovecraft’s classic tale of time travel, identity theft and whistling polyps, The Shadow Out of Time. It is a lengthy tale, and we found plenty to say about it, so our discussion is appropriately... [click here for more]

Episode 65 – The Good Friends get stuck into Karl Edward Wagner’s Sticks
We’re back and we’re looking at another classic horror short story. This time it’s Karl Edward Wagner’s Sticks, a nasty little tale that is both of the Cthulhu Mythos and about it. The story draws from a number of real people and events, blending them with fiction to create a delirious... [click here for more]

Episode 78 – The Good Friends reveal the secret history of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition
Around a year ago, when we believed the print release of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition was imminent, we spent a day chatting with Mike Mason about how 7th edition had come about, on the assumption we would release the discussion within a month or two. The events that followed now make this seem a little ill-informed.... [click here for more]

Episode 79 – The Good Friends reveal more of the secret history of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition
We’re back with the conclusion of our discussion about how Call of Cthulhu 7th edition came about. Once again, we’re joined by Mike Mason, line editor of Call of Cthulhu, who co-authored 7th edition along with our very own Paul Fricker. I’m saying “once again”... [click here for more]

Episode 80: The Good Friends get pulped by Pulp Cthulhu
The bulk of the episode is taken up by a brief overview of what you can expect to find in Pulp Cthulhu, an explanation of what sets it apart from standard Call of Cthulhu, and discussion of our experiences of playing and running the game. Although the PDF is only just on the cusp of release, we each spent much of last year running Pulp Cthulhu,... [click here for more]

Episode 81 – The Good Friends tremble in the Dead of Night
Described as “the roleplaying game of campfire tales, slasher movies and b-movie horror”, Dead of Night is a light, simple system designed for one-shots, and can easily be explained to new players on the fly. You can create a player character in a couple of minutes, which is a good thing, given that they’re known in... [click here for more]

Episode 82: The Good Friends pose with Pickman’s Model
We’re back, and we’re tearing into the ripe meat of another Lovecraft story. This time we discuss the charnel pleasures and toothsome delights of Pickman’s Model. While there is nothing of the cosmic about this tale, it is one of Lovecraft’s best-known works, and perhaps the purest horror story he ever... [click here for more]

Episode 83: The Good Friends ponder the appeal of RPGs
We’re back, and we’re looking at the dice clutched in our hands, asking “why?” Seriously, sitting around a table with people you like while everyone pretends to be someone else sounds pretty weird. And yet, for many, roleplaying games are a passion that borders on obsession. The three of us have spent, appropriately for... [click here for more]

Episode 84 – The Good Friends unearth some Mythos artefacts
Happily, the scarcity of Mythos artefacts has forced us to be honest this episode. There really are only three entries. We could have included tomes or the products of human mad science, but we decided to save those for future episodes. The items we have selected are all guaranteed 100% alien, eldritch and unwholesome. The ISO number... [click here for more]

Episode 85 – The Good Friends fight off combat fatigue
We’re back and we’re resorting to violence again. Combat is a large part of roleplaying games, arguably disproportionately so. Even in Call of Cthulhu, a game where academics, librarians and antiquarians carefully search crumbling ruins and pore over forbidden tomes in search of knowledge that will either save or doom humanity,... [click here for more]

Episode 86 – The Good Friends play with the conventions of convention games
We’re back and we’re mostly live! No, we haven’t fallen into the clutches of Herbert West. The bulk of this episode is a live recording of a seminar we gave at the Continuum 2016 convention in Leicester. Mike Mason joins us for a discussion of what makes convention games special. This is a subject... [click here for more]

Episode 87 – The Good Friends fall under the spell of The Witch
We’re back, and we’re talking about a horror film for the first time in far too long. The Witch: A New England Folktale is one of the most unusual and ambitious horror films of recent years. It is an intelligent, sinister and beautifully made period piece, set in the days of colonial America. Few horror... [click here for more]